Me: Hey you guys, welcome back, I'm glad you guys liked the way that Yugi met Yami, because it took me five tries to finally get a meeting that I liked. :) Anyway to my reviewers:

To Ern Estine 13624: Glad you're liking it.

To Fragments of Imagination: Here's the next chapter ^w^

To the guest reviewer: That'll be revealed in time :)

To PhantomBrat: Glad you loved it. Atem comes back later in the story. :) And thanks I'm glad you're really liking this story. ^w^

A quick note here, please excuse if I miss any letters in my words. A bunch of my keys are sticking. Anyway. I do not own YGO or anything pertaining to YGO.

Kotonaru

Chapter 12

Christmas

Yami laid down in front of the fire, resting his head on his paws, his back legs stretched to the side. His tail lay limply on the floor, as he started to doze off, his crimson red eyes closing slowly as his head tilted to the side.

Yugi was in the kitchen with his mother, peeking around the corner and smiling when he caught sight of Yami. The large wolf had been wore out after showing them what he could do. It turned out that Yami had used up a lot of his strength trying to keep himself warm before they had found him. He was close to freezing to death when they had found him, and thanks to the warmth they had put him in, he was able to work up enough magic to show them what he could do. Once he had shown them though, he had fallen over, exhaustion finally setting in on him. He'd been laying in front of the fireplace, since Joey had brought him back inside.

Yugi looked out the window to see more snow falling on the ground, quickly covering and refreezing what Yami had thawed. Yugi helped his mother to prepare dinner, the others in various places of the house unpacking their bags for the night. Once dinner was done Yugi walked into the living room and croutched down next to Yami. Yami opened his eyes halfway, peeking over at Yugi. "Yami, dinner is done. Are you hungry?"

"I do not eat, little one. But thank you" Yami mumbled, his chin still resting on his paws.

"What do you mean you don't eat?" Yugi asked, tilting his head, confused.

"I'm just a magical entity. I don't require food or water."

"No wonder you've been able to live for so long."

"Is he hungry?" Zana asked, peeking her head out of the kitchen.

"He said he doesn't require food or water."

Zana sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "It's christmas, now get in here and at least join us."

Yami looked at Zana and tilted his head "It's what?"

"Christmas" Yugi chirped.

"What's christmas?"

"Depends on what way ya look at it" Joey said, leaning against the kitchen door frame.

"Huh?"

"What my brother means is, christmas has a whole religious view on it, but more importantly, it's a time for family to come together. We spend time together, exchange gifts, and enjoy a christmas dinner together" Serenity explained.

"It's actually christmas eve" Tristan corrected.

"Meaning it's the day before christmas" Anzu added.

"Too bad we didn't bring any christmas decorations" Yugi pouted, pursing his lips.

Yami narrowed his eyes in thought, he'd seen lots of different decorations these days. This 'christmas' one they were talking about came every winter. People would chop down trees and put up a bunch of unneccesary decorations. "What all decorations go with christmas?"

Yugi looked at Yami and blinked. "Um, stockings go above the fireplace, a tree will go over there once we cut one down. We'll put presents under the christmas tree. Lights, garland, and ornaments go on the tree. Lights, tinsel, and mistletoe decorate the house. It's always lit up and really pretty."

Yami laid his head back down and huffed. Yugi noticed his distress and scooted towards him. "Yami? Is something wrong?"

"Everything has changed. I just don't understand the world anymore. I feel like a sheep in a herd of goats."

Yugi put his hand on Yami's head, attempting to comfort him. "Everyone feels like that sometimes" he said softly, smiling when Yami turned to look at him. "We learn to find our way though, and eventually we become a goat too. You'll learn, and we'll help. We understand how confused you must be. It's understandable because you're from three thousand years ago, and haven't even been inside since your last home. But we'll teach you everything. I promise."

Yami sighed as he folded his paws, laying his head down. "Thanks for trying Yugi, but that's about as easy as me mastering my magic."

Yugi sighed as he patted Yami's head "Don't give up before you even try Yami" he said as he stood.

Yami let out a little whine as he twisted to curl into a ball. Yugi ran his hand down Yami's back before he headed into the kitchen with everyone else. Zana stayed in the doorway, looking at the wolf that laid curled in a ball. 'He looks so broken' she thought to herself.


Everyone was sleeping soundly, Yugi and Joey were sharing the couch, since Yugi was so small and Joey fell asleep there while they were talking earlier. Zana, Serenity, and Anzu were in one room, while Solomon, Tristan, and Ryou were in another. Yami lay on his side in front of the fireplace, his brows furrowing and unfurrowing as he twitched in his sleep. His paws began twitching as he let out a whine, his lip quivering as he let out a growl.

Yugi blinked the sleep from his eyes when he heard Yami growling. When he looked down Yami was still asleep, but he was twitching. Yugi got up from the couch and walked over to look at Yami, watching as the wolf fought something in his sleep.


A giant black mass was chasing Yami. It didn't take a certain form, but it continued to bare down on him. He ran as fast as he could, but he wasn't able to escape it. He felt a hand latch onto his side and turned to bite it. A yelp pulled him from the dream, waking him back in the real world. Yugi sat next to him, clutching his right hand in his left as blood seeped through his fingers.

Yami's eyes widened "Yugi I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, give me your hand."

"Yami I'm okay."

"Yugi, please."

Yugi looked at the pleading look in Yami's eyes and held out his right hand. Yami's muzzle lit up as a white light eminated from it. Yami licked Yugi's hand, his tongue glowing white as it ran along Yugi's skin. Yami's tongue was warm, and kind of dry, but Yugi giggled as a tingling sensation ran through his hand from Yami's tongue.

Yugi gasped as Yami's magic ran through him. He saw himself, only, it wasn't him. He was walking with a woman and man that he'd never seen before. They walked by a house where a woman with long red hair, highlighted blonde. Another flash and they were inside the house. Him, the woman, and the man he had been walking with were sitting on what Yugi guessed was supposed to be a couch. The woman had disappeared but a man was sitting in a 'chair' across from them. Another flash and the woman came back, with a tri-colored haired boy, his hair spiked up like Yugi's but with red/violet tips and extra blonde bangs going back into his ebony black hair.

Yugi shook his head as he came back to the present. "What was that?" Yugi asked.

"What was what?"

"Yami? What did Atem look like?"

"Like you, taller, narrow eyes, red/violet eyes and tips to his tri-colored hair-"

"And extra blonde bangs going back into his ebony black hair?"

"How did you know that?" Yami asked, his eyes widening.

"I think I saw him. When you were licking my hand something weird happened. I was walking with a blonde haired woman, and a man with black hair. We ran into a lady with red hair that had blonde highlights, and a man that had black hair too. The lady disappeared but came back with, I guess it was Atem."

"You saw Lyra and Amun, they were Heba's parents. The red haired woman and other black haired man were Yamina and Aknamkanon, they were Atem's parents. But why are you seeing that through Heba's eyes?"

"Yami? What does this mean?"

"I don't know Yugi. There's still so much that I need to figure out. Let's keep it to ourselves until we find out more."

"Okay." Yugi sighed as he sat there next to Yami.

Yami laid down, curled in a ball and sighed. "No use worrying about it Yugi. I promise I'll protect you. I won't let the same fate come to you as it did to Heba. Now lay down. Let's get some rest."

"Okay." Yugi looked at Yami, he was still shaken up from the whole ordeal. "Y-Yami?"

"Hm?" Yami hummed, peeking one eye open.

"C-Can I sleep with you?"

Yami opened his eyes as he lifted his head to look at Yugi. He smiled and nodded his head "Sure Yugi."

"Thanks" Yugi whispered, laying his head on Yami's side. The two laid there, curled together as they slept peacefully.

Me: And there's the end to that. Hope you all enjoyed, until next time everyone *waves* Goodbye